I planned on joining an established private $$$ league. The league is now contemplating going keeper. This does not seem fair to me as it was not a keeper when I said I would join. However, since I don't know many of the guys and never been in a keeper league, I'm going to hold off on complaining or backing out until I get a little more info from you guys.

Questions:
1. Is a newcomer at a disadvantage in a keeper league?
2. How does a keeper league make it fair for newcomers to join?

1. How many keepers per team? The more there are, the worse it is for you.
2. Are you taking over an existing team? If so, how do those keepers look?
3. How long do you get to keep a player?

As for your questions:

1. Yes, if you are taking over a really bad team or if a lot of keepers are being kept. No, just from a fantasy sense. There aren't that many differences. I will post a link at the bottom of the page for some keeper points.
2. It is more of a disadvantage coming in late but, depending on the rules and answers to the questions above, it might not be too bad.

Good answers folks. Thanks and thanks for that link Lofunzo. Good info .
Right now, all I know is they are thinking of keeping two. I still don't like the idea of losing out on on a chance of two of the top 24 especially when there is a cash investment involved. I'd also be starting a new team. No idea of how long we keep them for, but I'll be sure to inquire. I just assumed you kept them as long as you wanted.

In my established football leagues I've always felt it was an advantage knowing what the others drafting and fa/trade tendencies were and I am already losing out on that since I am new to this league. To also have to play catch up and not get an opportunity on the whole player pool leaves me wondering if I should just look elsewhere for my summer fix.

Take a look at how many players they keep and what players you will be able to pick up in your expansion draft or what players you will be able to pick from a team that you inherit. If you dont believe you have a good chance to pick a team from those that you can compete with I would back out of the league. No point in throwing money away.

Usually how it is done is each team gets to protect X number of players and you get to pick up the first Y number of players of your choice to fill out your keepers. Most leagues will put in a proviso that no team can lose more than one or two players to expansion. Then when you have your keepers you go into the draft like everyone else. Some leagues get fancier with 2 or 3 tiers of protection to allow the expansion team to get into a higher bracket of players, etc. Varies from league to league and depending on the rules obviously.